Trillionaire Elon Musk may have said that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy”, but it seems that for organisations, research is emerging that it is a strength.

Research by Professor Jeremy Howick at the University of Leicester suggests that empathy can be a key ingredient for successful organisations.  The research, as reported in the Guardian, shows that NHS trusts with higher empathy ratings also benefit financially and have improved staff wellbeing. Small improvements in empathy were linked to improved CQC ratings and improved patient safety.  Staff wellbeing also benefitted, with higher scoring trusts reporting less burnout and absenteeism than those that scored lower. Expenditure on agency staff and external consultants was also lower in trusts with higher empathy ratings.

Research has also shown that empathy can reduce pain, depression and anxiety, and improve patient satisfaction and quality of life.

We are biologically  hardwired for connection. Mirror neurons respond to actions we observe in others. They are foundational mechanism for empathy;  a shorthand to help us understand the motivations of other people,  why people do what they do.

This runs contrary to the narrative that you need to be ruthless in order to survive this dog-eat-dog world.

Feeling into

But I was surprised to discover that empathy is a relatively new concept. The word wasn’t used in English until the early 20^th century. Originally it was a translation of the German term Einfühlung – feeling into – a term to describe the feeling we get when we experience art and literature. (See Susan Lanzoni’s Empathy: A History)

We connect with empathy and the abstract, the words, the two dimensional artwork, comes alive. That incredible experience of emotional connection one can feel when reading a book or listening to a piece of music or experiencing an art work; a connection with the artist, and the artist’s intention.

Anyone who has watched the film Hamnet will know what this means. I left the cinema bereaved.

In the following decades this original translation of empathy extended to our identification with the feelings of other people. It became more the psychological description we understand it to be now – that of the interpersonal ability to perceive, recognise, and respond to the emotional states of others.

It is important to maintain our own sense of self here. As Carl Rogers, the founder of humanistic and person-centred psychology, describes, empathy is the ability to sense a person’s world as if it were your own, without losing the ‘as if’ quality.

It makes sense that empathy would be a competitive advantage. As marketers, developers, communications professionals, we are all taught to consider the audience, to develop profiles of users.  Only by understanding the needs of those we are working for can we hope to be successful.

I have used similar principles in building  understanding between teams. The Empathy Map game (which I first saw in Gamestorming – a brilliant book with loads of ideas for creative teams to generate ideas and play together to develop psychological safety) asks you to imagine what someone else thinks and feels from another group. This could be another team, or a customer, a patient, a family member, a student.  It’s a way of getting people to look beyond roles and job titles and focus on the humans behind them.

Unlocking empathy

So in the University of Leicester research, what were the top performing organisations doing differently?

It makes sense that patients and staff are likely to do better at well-run trusts where empathy has more chance of thriving. The research team call for greater investment in compassionate leadership skills, but this isn’t a new concept for the NHS (Michael West’s work on compassionate leadership is a cornerstone in NHS Leadership courses).

I watched the film Tuner last weekend. It’s a film about a young piano tuner with hyperacusis, a neurological condition causing hypersensitivity to everyday sounds. Although in the real world, this is a painful condition, this is Hollywood, and he learns to crack open safes  using his  hypersensitive hearing.

In the same way, empathy can be unlocked through deep, intentional listening.

Empathy cannot be ‘taught’ in the traditional way. The theory is all very well, but when you are in a situation where your own sense of self is threatened in some way (whether as a leader, or a professional) it can be difficult to put theory into practice.

I am still very much a work in progress when it comes to listening, but through my work with Unfolding Poetry, I have come to understand more about empathy in the both the aesthetic and humanistic senses of the word.

Poetry doesn’t just connect us with ourselves – it helps us connect with others. There’s a theory that the rhythm of poetry simulates the rhythms we heard in the womb, hearing our mother’s heartbeat. So in a way, poetry connects us to those first moments of connection with another.

Poet Roger Robinson calls poems “empathy machines,”  and I have seen how a poem can connect us through imagery to experiences beyond our own and a new level of understanding. His work tackling topics such as the Grenfell Tower disaster, racism and the legacy of slavery, translates as he says, the unspeakable to the page. Through poetry, empathy gives us the moral imagination to engage emotionally with the world beyond ourselves.

I am developing the Unfolding Poetry framework into a series of sessions for leaders and aspiring leaders who are looking for a less traditional way to develop their empathy skills. Do register for the newsletter or get in touch if you’d like to be involved. The first cohort is planned for the Autumn.

It is only through truly listening we understand others perspectives. Listening organisations foster empathy because workers who feel heard and valued are better equipped to listen to and care for others, creating a virtuous circle.

In the current feverish political and social landscape, empathy can feel problematic. Recently I argued with my friend. We are in agreement in our politics, but when I suggested to him that we should try and think empathetically about what is motivating ‘the other side’. He was vehement: “I refuse to be compassionate about people who sanction the killing of children.”

I don’t have the answers here, this is more of a question for discussion. To have honest conversations about how difficult empathy is.

Talk of kindness is easy. Sometimes we perform acts of kindness only because they are easy for us. But listening to understand, with empathy, even if it runs contrary to our own beliefs (especially, perhaps) that is the difficult thing.

Not a weakness. Most definitely a strength.

If you’d like me to explore empathy with your team

get in touch